Soundgarden In Legal Battle With Chris Cornell's Widow

Bruce Henne | 12-09-2019

(hennemusic) A new report indicates Chris Cornell's widow is suing Soundgarden over a series of unreleased recordings made by the rocker before his death in 2017.

According to Rolling Stone, Vicky Cornell has filed a lawsuit in a Florida court claiming the Seattle band is withholding royalties from her in an effort to gain access to vocal tracks for seven songs the singer recorded in his personal studio in Florida.

The lawsuit alleges there was never any explicit agreement that these songs were for Soundgarden, and that Cornell was the exclusive owner of them. After Cornell's death, the band reached out to Vicky, who agreed to share the unreleased recordings with Soundgarden for a potential new album so long as they used one of Cornell's "trusted producers" and kept her informed about a possible album marketing strategy.

The suit also claims that Soundgarden's lawyers sent Vicky Cornell a letter last month demanding she turn over the unreleased recordings, which the band claimed sole ownership of while naming drummer Matt Cameron as a co-writer, with guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd listed as co-writers on one song each.

Meanwhile, Cornell alleges that Soundgarden "has not produced any partnership documents, much less any documentation signed by Chris, supporting their conclusory claims of ownership." Furthermore, it notes that "there is no evidence that the [unreleased recordings]... were ever intended to be anything but Chris' sole and exclusive property." here.

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